Mountain Views News          Saturday, October 11, 2014

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Mountain View News Saturday, October 11, 2014 

Walking Sierra Madre…The Social Side by Deanne Davis

REMEMBRANCE


“All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful,
The Lord God made them all.” 

Anglican hymn, first published in 1848 in Mrs. Cecil Alexander’s 
Hymns for Little Children

 It’s time again for the annual Blessing of the Pets. This 
celebration of life is conducted in remembrance of St. Francis of 
Assisi’s love for all creatures. Francis, whose feast day is October 
4th, loved the larks flying about his hilltop town. He and his 
early brothers, staying in a small hovel, allowed themselves to be 
displaced by a donkey! 

Walking around Ascension Episcopal Church on north Baldwin 
this week was peaceful and pleasant. The Gooden School 
Orchestra was practicing under the trees in the shady south 
garden. The windows of the classrooms at Ascension are papered 
with pumpkins of every size and artistic design imaginable. 
Don’t you just love walking through schools, imagining all the 
small people behind the doors working away inside to master the 
intricacies of reading, writing and arithmetic.

 The Rector of Ascension, Rev. Michael Bamberger, was all 
smiles as we chatted about the upcoming Blessing of the Animals, 
which is this Sunday, October 12th at 11:45 a.m. Rev. Bamberger 
has been the Rector at Ascension for 29 years. Many of you will 
remember him as a retired Battalion Chief of our fabulous Fire 
Department. Asking how long the pet blessing has been going 
on, he said it’s been 40 years plus! This is one of the events Sierra 
Madre enjoys tremendously, as do the Rector and congregation 
of Ascension. The Episcopal Church embraces a theology of 
creation and that means ALL creatures. The church is the place 
where the bond of creation is celebrated. 

 Rev. Bamberger has blessed horses, goats, snakes, hamsters, dogs, 
cats and even a few racehorses have been chauffeured up from 
Santa Anita for a blessing. There is a disclaimer that goes with that 
blessing, though: horses won’t run any faster after being blessed. 
There are therapy dogs and service dogs. Small children’s stuffed 
animals have been blessed, precious pets who have passed on, 
people have brought pictures of a beloved pet; in general, this is a 
moment when relationships are blessed, not just animals. Blessing 
prayers are also directed to wise stewardship of endangered species 
and I’m sure our local deer and bears are mentioned. 

 There’s excellent attendance for the church service on Blessing 
Day when pets are welcome to be part of the morning worship. For 
those creatures great and small who are a little too rambunctious 
for worship, there is pet care available in the upper field. There 
are folks who make a special trip to Ascension just once a year 
for Pet Blessing Day and all are welcome. The actual pet blessing 
takes place in the South Worship area, just below Laurel, where 
there are trees, shade and plenty of room for the whosoever will. 
This area is such a lovely spot, close to where the Gooden School 
children have their vegetable garden. In case you didn’t know, the 
food grown in the garden goes to the Friends In Deed Food Pantry 
in Pasadena. Ascension is setting aside additional space for food 
production and they grew tomatoes this year for their neighbors 
on Laurel, available for the picking. Obviously, they had more 
success with their tomatoes than I did with mine. Maybe it’s that 
blessing thing!

 Each pet is sprinkled with holy water and blessed in the name 
of the Holy Trinity. When I asked if there have ever been any 
disagreements between any of the creatures, Rev. Bamberger said 
absolutely not! The only instance when there was a little difficulty 
was when a snake, who was being rather absent-mindedly minded, 
decided to see if he could visit a hamster, who was equally absent-
mindedly minded. No permanent damage was done, but that 
hamster is probably not going to be making friends with snakes 
any time soon!

 One more walk this week: Up Grove above Grandview…super 
good creepy Halloween décor!

 Dear Walking Sierra Madre Friends, I have a really neat book 
out! “A Tablespoon of Love, A Tablespoon of Laughter” is available 
on Amazon.com; or https://www.createspace.com/ 4561071

ULYSSES “GRANT” BETHEL 

October 8, 1923 – October 4, 2014

Longtime Sierra Madre 
resident Ulysses “Grant” 
Bethel passed away on 
Saturday, October 4th, just 
four days shy of his 91st 
birthday. He was born in 
Boston, MA and raised in 
Upstate New York, mostly in 
Lake Luzerne, NY. 

Grant had an illustrious 
career as a biochemist in 
the field of hematology. 
From 1951 – 1969 He 
was hired by Dr. William 
Hinton in 1951, who was 
the first African American 
Director of the Wasserman 
Laboratory at Harvard. The 
lab was the official lab for 
the Massachusetts State 
Department of Public Health. 

During that time, Grant also worked with Dr. E.J. Cohen, the father 
of blood fractionation. Dr. Cohen set up a protein foundation 
at Harvard Medical School and taught the process to medical 
students. It was the only place in the United States where one could 
learn the process at that time.

In 1969 Grant went to work with the American Red Cross in Boston 
where he helped set up the largest red blood cell frozen bank in 
the world. He retired as a biochemist from Hyland Laboratories in 
Glendale, CA in 1989. 

After that, he worked as an independent consultant basically acting 
as a troubleshooter in the area of blood fractionation, teaching for 
instance, how much pH and alcohol concentration goes into any 
respective formula. 

Shortly before retiring, Grant moved to Sierra Madre in 1987. He 
eventually took a part time job at Happy’s and when not working, 
Grant could be seen around town sitting on the bench in front of 
Happy’s Liquor Store or, when the 76 Gas Station was there, he could 
be seen sitting on a chair in the bay. He loved it here, loved looking 
at the beautiful mountains every day and he also loved talking with 
everyone in town. Local Businessman Ed Clare jokingly called him 
the Mayor of Sierra Madre.

Grant is survived by his wife, Marcia; daughter Denise (Denis) 
Stacke; granddaughter Sudip Peterson; Sisters Jeanne Mayo and 
Sylvia Henry and brother Robert Bethel. 

A memorial service is planned for Friday, October 17, 2014 at 
Sierra Madre Congregational Church with a reception following at 
the church. Family requests no flowers. Instead, in lieu of flowers, 
please make a donation in Grant’s name to Methodist Hospital, 
Arcadia, CA; An organization working for a cure for Alzheimers 
disease, or the American Red Cross Blood Program. 


Sierra Madre Police Blotter

During the week of Sunday, September 28th to 
Sunday, October 5th, the Sierra Madre Police 
Department responded to approximately 355 calls 
for service.

Tuesday, September 30th

 At 1:15 pm, Sierra Madre Police performed 
a traffic stop for a seat belt violation. After 
approaching the vehicle, Officers immediately 
became aware to the strong odor of marijuana 
coming from the vehicle. When questioned by 
Officers how much marijuana was in the vehicle, 
the suspect informed Officers he had 80 grams. 
The suspect explained that he was a medical 
marijuana delivery driver for a dispensary. 
During a search of the vehicle, Officers located 
various strains of marijuana, hash oil, and 
marijuana-infused candies. Officers also located 
a bag containing over $1,100 which was money 
collected from sales. An additional $700 was 
found on the suspect. The suspect was arrested 
and booked for unlawful sales and transportation 
of marijuana and possession of marijuana for 
sale. 

 At 3:16 pm, Sierra Madre Police responded 
to the station lobby to take a report regarding 
criminal threats made online. The victim 
informed Officers that beginning in April, she 
began receiving messages to her online profile 
from the male subject, who she had not spoken to 
prior in over 6 years. Most of the messages were 
described as being about government concerns 
and world events to which she never replied. The 
victim then received a message from the male 
stating he would harm her child with gasoline 
and fire. Through her own research from mutual 
friends shared between the victim and male 
subject, she discovered the male subject had a 
recent history of drug use and numerous arrests. 
Upon review of the messages, Officers noticed 
a general theme of violence. This case has been 
forwarded to the Detectives Bureau. 

Thursday, October 2nd

At 2:46 pm, Sierra Madre Police responded to 
the station lobby regarding a fraudulent scam. 
Officers were informed by the victim that earlier 
that day, she received a call from whom she 
believed to be the IRS. The caller informed the 
victim that she had an outstanding balance of 
$8,983 that was owed from the year of 2008, and if 
she failed to pay they would withdraw the money 
from her account and issue a warrant for her 
arrest. Believing it was in fact the IRS, the victim 
followed the instructions of the caller to go and 
buy 18 prepaid cards and load them each with 
money. The victim then contacted the man to 
provide him with the security code for each card, 
where the money was transferred electronically. 
The caller then informed the victim to pay more 
money to allow a settlement in the case rather 
than being civilly sued. After refusing to pay 
more, the victim contacted the IRS and they 
confirmed to her that she had been a victim of 
a scam. The estimated loss was valued at over 
$9,000. This case has been forwarded to the 
Detectives Bureau. 

BRIEF SPOT ON BEARS Photo by Craig Bunch, Sierra Madre


The residents of Sierra Madre live near 
natural areas and routinely receive 
unexpected visits from all types of 
wildlife seeking food, water and/or 
shelter. With the cities proximity to the 
San Gabriel Mountains, wild animals 
occasionally enter the urban areas 
of the city and place residents and 
domesticated animals in danger. The 
wildlife includes coyotes, mountain 
lions, bobcats and bears. The presence 
of unwanted wildlife (or predators), in 
the back-yards of our residents often 
times evolves into an emergency and 
public safety is summonsed for help. 
With the rapid ecological changes in 
the weather, the police department has 
seen a huge increase in the number of 
calls for service in regards to wildlife. 

 From January through September 
2014, the Sierra Madre Police 
Department has responded to 254 
calls for service regarding assistance 
with the wildlife that co-exists with 
humans in our city. Bears sightings are at the 
forefront of these types of calls, with officers 
responding to 222 calls of the 254 calls for 
service this year so far. With the bear population 
almost doubling over the last 25 years, water and 
food shortages in the hills above our city, bears 
are visiting our community out of necessity.

 Although the behavior of a wild bear 
may appear to be predictable, we cannot 
underestimate the potential for danger. When 
dealing with incidents involving wildlife, 
officers do so in the safest manner possible, 
placing the safety of human beings as its highest 
priority, while ensuring that all services and 
tools at its disposal are utilized to provide for 
the safety of the wild animal. In the event you, 
a family member, or neighbor believe you are 
in immediate danger from any type of wildlife, 
please do not hesitate to call the Sierra Madre 
Police Department at 626-355-1414 or 911 in an 
emergency. The Pasadena Humane Society and 
the California Department of Fish and Gameare 
mutual partners in the effort to control animal 
related incidents within the city.

Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com